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Pierkemimi wrote:

Idris wrote:ignoring the hook for the moment, which variation is this example?

If I follow the list mentioned in this topic number 12. (or 13 if you ignore the color off the hook)

Hmmm. I was hoping that it would be an early variation, at the very least a 'no brace' body, in which case a link to the box art model could be claimed.
The fact that it is a later variation therefore counts against it in my book, especially since it is such an obvious variation to have gone completely unrecorded for so long. However, stranger thanks have happened, like Jason spotting the obvious major casting variation on the 37a which everyone else had missed for literally decades (here).
We'll have to see if other example turn up and, if so, which variation they are. Regrettably, a hook can be relatively easily swapped, so we will also need to understand the circumstances under which any such example is discovered.

I presume it’s the hook off the 11c Jumbo crane? It’s entirely plausible that there were some left over when production of the 11c ended in 1968 and that they could have been used on the later issues of the Faun. However, this one does look quite playworn, so it’s at least as likely that someone added the hook from a broken 11c to make one good model.

The red-hooked models in the table are there because they’re reported in the early guides and that’s effectively contemporary evidence of their existence. Without a twin-roped Faun of impeccable provenance I don’t think we can add it to the table, though I’d like to be proved wrong.

A thought about the prepro on the box - I think this would have had the hook from the 30b Magirus. Definitely one to look out for!

I understand that everyone want to see one in mint condition. There is not enough information concerning this model, also why they made the box with the hook that never has been sold. Why they placed another hook is still a question.
Also the lists of christian are great but a list with models that don't excist is a little misleading. Would be better if the list are updated with models that are confirmed. I mean that in a possitive way. At the end is our hobby, not are work. Everyone helps to help each other to increase the information or news of each model. My model will have a place in my collection.

Pierkemimi wrote:I understand that everyone want to see one in mint condition. There is not enough information concerning this model, also why they made the box with the hook that never has been sold. Why they placed another hook is still a question.
Also the lists of christian are great but a list with models that don't excist is a little misleading. Would be better if the list are updated with models that are confirmed. I mean that in a possitive way. At the end is our hobby, not are work. Everyone helps to help each other to increase the information or news of each model. My model will have a place in my collection.

Actually, for me, where new discoveries are concerned, a playworn example carries more weight than a mint and boxed model.

Pierkemimi wrote:...also why they made the box with the hook that never has been sold...

...because that is the model the box-art artist was given by Lesney. In this case, that model obviously had a twin-rope hook (quite possibly from the 30b as Glenn has pointed out) and would have been a pre-production of some kind simply because the boxes would have had to be ready for the first production batch of models. (This is why we often see the model colours shown on first-run boxes differing from those of the first production run of models.)

Pierkemimi wrote:Would be better if the list are updated with models that are confirmed.

I agree, and I think this is a long-overdue step for all listings, Nick's included.

i recently got a no brace #30 without hook...i checked in my parts box and only had a red one...i havent put it on as the red isnt correct for this variation...it looks so odd without the hook...im so tempted to affix it on but i wont

Brad Pittiful wrote:i recently got a no brace #30 without hook...i checked in my parts box and only had a red one...i havent put it on as the red isnt correct for this variation...it looks so odd without the hook...im so tempted to affix it on but i wont

I have plenty models double, send it to me and your problem is solved.

Idris wrote:Actually, for me, where new discoveries are concerned, a playworn example carries more weight than a mint and boxed model.

I agree - except where a new version could be made by a simple component swap. Then we can only rely on provenance.

I've had a proper look at the hook on the box illustration - as well as having twin ropes, it's much shorter than the production hook, which perhaps confirms it was from the 30b, and suggests it was held in place by a rivet. There's an intriguing prepro (?) on Nick's site in the price guide. This one seems to have the grey hook from the 30b, as well as casting differences on the jib and a different cab - where is it now?

As you can see my one with-out the rear brace has got the wider wheels than the other one.

George T.

kerbside wrote:
As you can see my one with-out the rear brace has got the wider wheels than the other one.

Interesting, and you’ve made me measure mine. This is what I found:

Braceless (2) 3.1 mm and 3.3 mm
Orange rivet (5) 2x 3.1 mm, 2x 3.2 mm, 1x 3.3 mm
Unpainted rivet (1) 3.2 mm
Tow guide (2) 2x 3.4 mm

I’d suggest that there was a mix of narrow wheels at the start of production, with much wider wheels at the end.